How To Make Loose Leaf Tea

We’re all about using loose leaf - It’s the best way to make tea. Why? Well, large leaves + room to brew = more flavourful tea. Fact. Also, who wouldn’t want to watch their leaves brewing for five minutes? {It’s nothing like watching paint dry, we promise}. But for some reason, people think it’s a faff. We’re here to show you how easy it is to make loose leaf tea, so you’ve got no excuses!

EASY PEASY.

First things first, you’ll need some tea. The blend is up to you {although we’re always fist pumping for English Breakfast}. Whichever blend you choose, the quality of the leaf is key. You can buy “loose leaf tea” in dust form, but that’s only going to find its way to the bottom of your cup and taste bitter and flat. Stick to spindly, twiggy, leaf-like whole leaf teaand you’re half way to making the perfect cup of tea.

Secondly, you’re going to need a pot. Stay away from pots with filter baskets - leaves need room, so cramming them into a basket defeats the object of using a pot in the first place. Stick to a roomy pot, you can buy our borosilicate glass tea pot here. Awesome for tea leaf brewing and viewing.

You’ve got the equipment, now to get to the nitty gritty. Portion sizes, temperatures and brewing timings are key.

A perfect ratio of tea to water is 5g per 400ml. Rather than having you weigh out minuscule amounts of tea, we've created a scoop that portions out the perfect amount of tea. Easy.

Pop your scoop of tea into your 400ml pot and get the kettle boiling. Black teas and fruit infusions need to brew in 100-degree water, green teas do best in 85-degree water {cheats tip: fill our pot up to the base of the handle with cold water for the perfect green tea}.

Top up your pot with the right temperature water, then kick back and relax for a few minutes. 3-5 for black teas and 3-4 for green teas. Because fruit infusions don't contain tea they won't turn bitter if you brew them for a long time, so you'll want to leave them for 5+ minutes.

If you don't have our tea cards to hand to while away the minutes, there are plenty of other things to do: make a paper sailor hat, do some star jumps or devise a secret handshake - the possibilities are endless.

Then, you’re done! The clean up is a breeze, we find a kitchen sieve works a treat for emptying your pot. Just empty, rinse and stick it on the washing up pile.